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THE TWELVE DAYS OF CHRISTMAS
Edwin B. Kantar
December 22, 1975
On the first day of Christmas your true love may have given you a partridge in a pear tree, but I can't afford that, so I am going to give you a bridge hand, followed by 11 more. You can sample one a day through the holidays or try them at one sitting—it's up to you. The good news is that you will not make any poor bids because this quiz is on play; the bad news is that the hands are tough. They are graded in order of difficulty—five points for each of the first three, 10 for the next three, 15 for the next four, 20 for the first of two double dummy problems and 25 for the last. Turn to page 86 for the solutions.
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December 22, 1975

The Twelve Days Of Christmas

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[4 of Spades]
[King of Hearts]
[Queen of Hearts]
[Jack of Hearts]
[10 of Hearts]
[8 of Hearts]
[7 of Hearts]
[6 of Hearts]
[4 of Diamonds]
[3 of Diamonds]
[King of Clubs]
[10 of Clubs]
[5 of Clubs]

EAST

[King of Spades]
[Queen of Spades]
[10 of Spades]
[2 of Spades]
[4 of Hearts]
[King of Diamonds]
[10 of Diamonds]
[7 of Diamonds]
[6 of Diamonds]
[5 of Diamonds]
[Queen of Clubs]
[8 of Clubs]
[4 of Clubs]

Win the ace of diamonds. Lead a heart to the king and whether or not they divide, play a spade to the ace, ruff a spade, enter dummy twice more in hearts in order to ruff the two remaining spades.

With the hand stripped, toss out the diamond. Whoever wins will either have to lead a club, obviating the guess in that suit, or give you a ruff and a sluff.

Taking the diamond finesse at trick one means 1) you are greedy and 2) you will have to guess the clubs if it lose.

4

NORTH

[Jack of Spades]
[7 of Spades]
[6 of Spades]
[2 of Spades]
[Ace of Hearts]
[3 of Hearts]
[Ace of Diamonds]
[4 of Diamonds]
[3 of Diamonds]
[2 of Diamonds]
[4 of Clubs]
[3 of Clubs]
[2 of Clubs]

WEST

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